Massachusetts expands college transfer and discount programs

THE ISSUE: A program that gives financial incentives to students who transfer to a state university from a community college is expanding.

THE IMPACT: While officials expect more students to participate, the numbers are low enough that there are not immediate concerns about the program's short-term sustainability.

Gerry Tuoti Wicked Local Newsbank Editor

A pilot program that gives qualifying students tuition rebates when they transfer from a community college to a state university is significantly expanding its scope.

“The first year, we opened it up to six majors,” said Carlos Santiago, the state commissioner of higher education. “In year two, we now have 40 transfer pathways, so it covers 40 majors.”

The Commonwealth Commitment program, which launched last year, offers financial incentives to eligible students who study two years at a community college full-time, maintain at least a 3.0 grade point average, then transfer into a bachelor’s degree program at a state university. Incentives include a freeze on tuition and fees and a 10 percent tuition rebate each semester.

Compared to earning a bachelor’s degree through a traditional four-year program at a state university, a Commonwealth Commitment student can save an average of 40 percent.

“This initiative is a great help to our students who will achieve their associate and bachelor degrees at a considerable savings, keeping their dream of a college education affordable,” said Patricia Gentile, president of North Shore Community College.

The total average cost of earning a bachelor’s degree through the Commonwealth Commitment is currently $24,813, compared to an average of $41,577 for a traditional four-year program at a state university. Studying two years at a community college and transferring into a bachelor’s program without enrolling in the Commonwealth Commitment costs an average of $30,068, according to the state Department of Higher Education.

To participate in the Commonwealth Commitment, students must enroll in the program before earning 15 credits at community college. The Department of Higher Education recommends that interested students meet with their financial aid advisors on campus. Since the program requires students to earn their bachelor’s degree within four-and-a-half years, education officials suggest that participants have a good idea of which major they plan to pursue.

Community colleges across the state have actively promoted the initiative.

A relatively small number of community college students attend full-time, meaning there isn’t a very large pool of students potentially eligible to participate in the Commonwealth Commitment. In the first year, 127 students enrolled in the program. Santiago hopes expanding the program to include 40 majors will lead to greater participation.

“The first year, 40 percent of those eligible enrolled,” he said. “With those numbers, there could be an additional 500 students. I’d like to see it closer to 1,000. I can’t say yet whether I’m too optimistic or too pessimistic.”

So far, the community colleges and state universities have been providing the financial incentives out of their own budgets.

While the overall cost to the schools is minimal due to the low number of students participating, an influx of participating students could potentially have impacts on campus budgets.

“It’s possible that could happen,” UMass President Marty Meehan said. “We are closely monitoring enrollment trends. Currently, the impact is little, but we’re going to carefully review the potential impact of the numbers of students changing.”

At the foundation of the program lies a revamped transfer system. For the past few years, the Department of Higher Education has worked with individual public universities and community colleges to develop a universal system of transfer. That streamlined system allows students to transfer credits to any campus within the state’s public higher education system. Creating the universal transfer system is an ongoing process, but 40 majors, which represent the bulk of transfer students, are now included.

“Just having unified system of transfer makes it more affordable to students,” Santiago said. “Before, they’d take intro courses at the community college and then find out they had to retake a number of courses at a state university because the credits weren’t accepted. If we had financial incentives without a unified system of transfer, I’m not sure we’d be better off.”

While some states now offer free community college, Santiago said the discounts included in the Commonwealth Commitment represent a significant value. That said, education officials are looking at ways to further expand the program.

“Do we lower the GPA requirement? Do we expand it to include part-time students?” Santiago pondered. “What will Commonwealth Commitment 2.0 look like? We know we have to come up with something, but we’re not sure exactly how it will be funded.”

The focus, he said, is balancing quality and affordability.

While the number of students enrolled in Commonwealth Commitment is fairly low, a drastic spike in the number of participating students could raise future questions about the program’s financial sustainability.

“If we could get some state funding to fund it, that would be great,” Meehan said. “At this point, there is no commitment of state funding.”

Meehan said streamlining transfers holds great potential for offering new options and pathways to students.

“We need to make sure it works,” he said. “We want high quality in what we’re doing, and I think we’ve made a lot of progress. I like the idea of giving a student a 10 percent rebate. I’m interested in any incentives that can get students to graduate on time, and I want to see what the data will show.”

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